Interviewee



June 11, 1929. I

i J. w. WOOLLEY INTERVI EWER Filed May 26, 1928 lfas'eph 7/17/50 ATTORNEY.

Patented June 11, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,115,571 PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH W. WOOLLEY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO.

INTERVIEWER. I

Application filed May 26, 1928. Serial 'No. 280,754.

' to the inside of the door and thereby open the same and also to provide means whereby the closure member of'the interviewer can only be opened from the inside of the door.

It is afurther object of the invention to provide means whereby the securing means for the interviewer are concealed and thereby add to the attractiveness of the appearance of the interviewer upon both the outside of the door.

A still further object is to provide means upon the fixed outside member of the interviewer for receiving indicia such as the name of the occupant of the apartment and the apartment number thereby eliminating any necessity for placing any additional devices upon the door; 7

An important object of my invention is to provide means upon the interviewer whereby a caller can attract the attention of the occupants of the apartment thereby avoiding the necessity of separate call bells. The means for attracting the attention of the occupants is disposed so as to add to the attractiveness of the interviewer and also to serve as a bar member upon the outside member of the interviewerthereby further preventing any possibility of access through the interviewer itself to the inside of the door. 7

It is also my intention to provide means whereby the entire interviewer can be attached to a door which has only a single opening orovided therein. This is important since my interviewer can be attached to the door in a minimum of time and also by unskilled labor;

A still further object of the invention is to provide an interviewer which is capable of being used upon the type of doors commonly known as servidors; 1

Vith these and other objects in view as will hereinafter appear, myi nvention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of my device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the aecom panying drawings, in which:

the inside and Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device taken from the outside of the drawing;

, Figure 2 is an elevational view from the inside of the door;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view;

Figure 4 is a disassembled perspective view;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the latch, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view on the section line 66 of Figure 1.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional View showing the connection between the plates and the door.

In the drawingslike reference characters refer to like parts.

My device consists essentially of two plate members 10 and 11. The plate member 10 is placed upon the outside of the door and the plate member 11 is placed upon the inside of the door. These plate members are prefe erably circular but may be of any desired shape. A portion of the door is indicated at 12 having a circular opening 13 therein.

Plate members 10 and 11 are provided with alined openings 14 and 15 respectively, the opening 14 being slightly less in diameter than the opening 15 for a purpose to be later described. The plate member 10 has upon the inside surface thereof upstanding lugs 16 which are preferably 4 in number and spaced apart 90 degrees as shown. Each of the lugs 16 has a threaded opening 17 extending into the same from the inside butnot going entirely through the same. The plate member 11 is provided with an inwardly extending circular flange 18 which is adapted to over lap the lugs 16 and the flange 18 is recessed to accommodate the lugs 16 and is also provided with apertures 19 in alignment with the threaded openings 17. Bolts 20 extends through the unthreaded openings 19 into the threaded openings 17 of the lugs 16 for securing the plate members 10 and 11 together and securing the same to the periphery of the opening 13 in the door 12- It will be noted that when theplate members 10 and 11 are secured together in this manner it is impossible to secure access to the bolts 20 from the outside of the door.

The plate 11 is provided with an upstanding inwardly extending flange 21 which is provided at the top portion thereof with therein.

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A closure member 2i is provided with spaced cars which are disposed between the ears 22 and which also have aligned openings 26 therein which are adapted to align with the openings 23 in the cars 22 for the reception of pivot pin 2'7. A spring 28 encircles the pivot pin and has one end 29 b aring against the plate it and the other end 30 hearing against the edge 31 of a shield 32 provided so as to partially enclose the main body of the spring 28. The shield is n'eierably 1st integral with the closure member 2i and its main function to conceal the spring 28 and also to provide a contact for the end 30 ot' the spring 28. By this construction the interior appearance of the interviewer is maintained attractive and also eliminates any possibility of the ends of the sprin 28 from catching in gar-- ments which may accidentally brush against the same.

Opposite to the side upon which the closure member or element 2% pivoted I provide a slot 83 extending from the periphery part way towards the center of the closure element and upon each side of the slot 33 cars 3-iare provided with aligned openings 35 in which a latch member 36 is pivoted. The latch member has an operating handle 3? with the cross bars 38 thereon which span the slot 33' and thereby limit the movement of the latch in one directionwhile the shoulder 39 limits the movement oi the la ch in the opposite direction.

The latch is of a peculiar COHSelUCiTlUD shown particularly in Figure 5 and consits of the bolt member 410 having the inclined surface it which is adapted to coperate with the inclined sur'iace lf l provided upon the flange all integral. with the flange 21 upon the plate member ll. Extending outward from the side or the bolt member it) is a all having an inclined surface with which one end of a spring t is adapted to cooperate while the other end of spring engages against an ear 3:. The spring it; wound around the pivot pin 4? which pivots the latch to the e: rs 3i.

The latch is maintained b i the s irin -l-6 with its bolt in u' nvard position and upon closing the closure :21 the inclined surfaces l2 and 41 will act as cam members to force the bolt 40 do\vnwardly so as to pass the flange all and then the spring 46 will automatically raise the bolt ll) into locking position behind the flange -43. i be seen that the closure member 2; concea the bolts 20 upon the inside oi? the door.

The construction of the plate 10 will now be described. At the top side 01" the plate 10 and upon the insidethereot is provided a. recess 48 and a sightopening 40 isprovided from the front of the plate communicating with this recess 48. The recess 48 terminates der 50. Into this recess a card bearing the number of the apartment or other information can be placed.

At the bottom of the plate 10 and extending also upon the inside of the plate is a recess 51 having an opening 52 upon the side thereof. In this case also a sight opening 53 is provided which communicates with the recess 51.

in this recess a card bearing the name or the occupant of the apartment can be placed. In regard to both of the recesses +18 and 51 it will be noted that the wall of the door itsell? is utilized as abacking for the card receiving receptacles thereby eliminating expensive machining of the plate.

The periphery of the opening 14 thickened at 5d as shown and upon the upper portion of this thickened part 54 two spaced cars 55 are provided having aligned apertures which receive the pivot pin 56 upon which the hnocker is pivoted. The knocker arm 58 extends entirely across the opening 14. and serves also as a grille bar dividing the opening in half. Adjacent the hinge point 59 of the knocker 57 a shoulder 60 is provided which limits the movement of the knocker arm away from the plate 10 so as to permit theknockcr to serve also as a grille bar. As general rule it is desired that the arm should only have approximately a 30 degree swing away from the pivot point. If de sired a button or handle 61 may be secured to the central point of the arm 58 and can be secured to the arm 58 in any desired manner. The knocker 57 terminates at the end away from the pivot point in a knocking elei'ncnt ()2 which can be of any artistic design such as a lions claw or the like. The knocking element 62 is disposed so as to knock against the metal plate 10. The knocker 57 has a three fold function in that it adds to the attractiveness of the interviewer, it serves as a means for signalling the occupants of the apartment and linally it serves as a grille bar dividing the opening 14 so as to render it diflicult for anyone to insert an arm through the opening or an instrument through the opening 14; to the inside of the door. If desired the knocker arm 58 can have extensions extending away therefrom so as to "further divide up the space within the opening 14.

It was noted above that the diameter of the opening 14; was less than the diameter of the opening 15. This is provided for the following purpose:

Whenever the door is of such thickness that the plates 10 and 11 are spaced apart a considerable distance it is necessary to place an element 64 bridging the gap between the plates. For this purpose the slight overlap of the periphery of the openin 14- serves as a shoulder against which one side of the element 64 contacts and the other side of the element 64 fits into the circular recess (35 providcd in the closure 24. The element 65 is preferably made of spring metal and various widths are provided to accommodate the different thicknesses of doors. It is merely necessary to spring the element 64; into place after the plates 10 and 11 have been secured together. The element 64 will also have a further function in positively preventing any draft through the closure 24. Where the thickness of the door is small as in some metal doors the element 64: may if desired be dispensed with.

By having the closure member swing upwardly it is possible to use my device with the doors known as servidors since it can be placed upon one side or the other of the thick ened central portion of these doors which is not possible with interviewers in which the closure member opens from the side. However, it is to be distinctly understood that the pivot point of the closure member in my device if desired be placed upon the side or at any other position about the periphery of the plate 11.

The material from which I preferably manufacture the device is a composition zinc alloy which is light in weight, can be easily cast and is malleable and will not crack easily.

The operation and installation of my device is as follows: It is only necessary to drill a single hole 13 in the door. The plate 10 is then placed against the outside of the door and the plate 11 against the inside of the door with the openings 19 in alignment with the threaded openings 17, The bolts 20 are then screwed into place firmly, securing the plates 10 and 11 to the door. The spring element 64 is then sprung into place and the entire device is assembled. 'Whenever the knocker 57 is knocked against the door the occupant of the apartment need merely unlatch the latch 36, lift the closure member and inspect the caller before opening the door itself. lVith a device of this type it can be seen that under no circumstances need the door be opened for the entry of suspicious persons. It is also possible to converse wit-h the person outside the door without the necessity of opening the door. As can also be seen, whenever the door is equipped with my device there is no necessity for installing upon the door or adjacent thereto a knocker or indicia carrying devices since everything necessary is embodied in my device.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the invention set forth above, without departing from the real purpose and spirit thereof, and it is the intention to cover by the following claims, any modified form of structure or use of equivalents, which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. An interviewer comprising plate members secured to a door or the like, a knocker pivoted to one of said plate members and forming also a grille bar and means upon said knocker limiting the movement thereof from said plate member to which the knocker is pivoted.

2. An interviewer comprising inside and outside plate members having aligned apertures therein, a knocker pivoted to said outside plate member, a knocker arm upon said knocker extending across said aligned apertures and serving as a grille bar and means upon said knocker limiting the movement thereof from said plate member to which the knocker is pivoted.

3. An interviewer comprising means secured to the periphery of an opening in a door having an aperture therethrough, means normally closing said aperture, pivoted signalling means connected to said first mentioned means and serving also as a grille bar and means limiting the movement of said signalling means from said door.

4. An interviewer comprising means secured to the periphery of an opening in a door having an aperture therethrough, means normally closing said aperture, pivoted signalling means connected to said first mentioned means and means limiting the extent of the swing of said signalling means from said door so as to permit said signalling means to function as a grille bar.

5. An interviewer for a door or the like comprising an outside member, an inside member spaced from said outside member, said members having aligned openings, a closure member mounted upon said inside memher for closing said openings, concealed means securing said inside and outside members together so that the outside member cannot be removed from the outside of the door, a pivoted knocker serving as a grille bar upon said outside member for signalling persons upon the inside of the door and a lug disposed upon said knocker for limiting themovement thereof from said door.

JOSEPH W. WOOLLEY. 

